Last Updated on 3 months by Charbel Coorey

IPL 2021 Match 2: CSK vs DC Dream11 Prediction Possible Playing 11 Pitch Report | CSK vs DC Dream11 Prediction Today | Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Capitals Key Players | Mumbai Pitch Report

After the opening encounter, two sides who experienced contrasting fortunes in IPL 2020 will go head-to-head in Mumbai. It will be Delhi Capitals, who had their best season in IPL history where they managed to reach the Final for the first time, up against Chennai Super Kings who did not make it to the playoffs for the first time in their 11-year history. 

“The Man who can hit you for a six and babysit your kids” will be leading the Capitals in absence of their regular Captain Shreyas Iyer who was ruled out due to shoulder injury. Life has come a full circle for young Rishabh after being dropped from India’s limited-overs side and having an underwhelming IPL 2020. He worked hard and roared back into the Indian white-ball setup in some style and will now be leading the Delhi Capitals.

Delhi Capitals’ strength in the last few years has been in their young guns. With Shreyas being ruled out, this puts a bit of extra pressure on Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, and Rishabh Pant.

For their opening game, they have concern in their bowling department as well as their Ace of Pace Rabada and Nortje will miss out as they have not completed their quarantine yet. Unfortunately, Axar Patel tested covid positive and will miss out on the first few games. However, this brings an opportunity for Steve Smith and Chris Woakes and they will be hoping to put their best foot forward.

Also read: 5 big predictions for IPL 2021

After analyzing all the IPL teams, we at CricBlog were a bit surprised when we found that Chennai Super Kings has got the most players who have performed reasonably well in the venues they are supposed to play. Cricket Pundits who already have ruled them out of the Top 4 spots definitely need a heads up! The only worry for CSK is that the likes of Rayadu, Raina, and MS have come to the tournament without much game time. 

Who will open the batting for CSK is a million-dollar question? They do have plenty of options but Faf and Gaikwad opened the innings last time when they played and did quite well. MS Dhoni being MS Dhoni will certainly go with them as he does not believe in making too many changes. Chennai also paid a hefty amount to get the services of Moeen Ali and Krishnapa Gowtham at their disposal and both can contribute with both bat & ball.

Friday brought a piece of good news to CSK Fans as the franchise opted for Jason Behrendorff as a replacement for his Aussie counterpart Josh Hazelwood which seemed to be a like-for-like replacement. Behrendorff will be available after the first two games. Now, the onus will be on Captain Cool to get the combination right so that his team can start well.

Key Players to Watch/ Key Stats

• Shikhar Dhawan – Gabbar led the Capitals’ run to the final last season. He aggregated 618 runs at an average of 44.14. Against Chennai, he plays his best cricket in the IPL. In 23 games against them, he has made 777 runs at an average of 40.9.  
• Prithvi Shaw –  The little monster piled a mountain of runs and went on to become the highest run-scorer of all time in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy, India’s prolific 50-over competition. Against Chennai, he has not done enough till now and just managed  123 runs from 7 games at an average of 17.6. 
• His record further worsens while batting second; he has just managed 13 runs from 3 games.  
• Steve Smith – In the absence of Shreyas Iyer, Smudge can get a look straight away. He had an underwhelming season last year and would be keen to get back in the groove. Against Chennai, he has made 317 runs from his 12 innings at an average of 35.2. His Average further increases up to 44 while batting first.
• Rishabh Pant – Like Dhawan, Pant enjoys playing against Chennai. He has made 222 runs from his 6 games at an average of 44.4. Also, in their IPL 2019 Opener, he scored 78 runs against MI at the same venue.
• Marcus Stonis – Stonis’ stature as a T20 machine has grown by leap and bounds in the last few years. He was the superman for the Capitals last season and played a couple of match-winning innings.
• Against Chennai, he has just played thrice made 43 runs, and bowled 4 overs without picking a wicket. He generally does better while batting second in his T20 carrier.
• Ravi Ashwin – Ash would be itching to replicate his recent success with the ball into the T20 format as well. Against Chennai, he has 6 wickets from 5 games. At Wankhede, he has 13 wickets from 14 matches. His record says that he does while bowling 1st at this venue. Out of 13 wickets, 10 have come while bowling first.
• Umesh Yadav –  Yadav warmed the bench for RCB last season before he was shipped out. Against Chennai, he has taken 12 wickets from 14 games. At Wankhede, he has 5 wickets from 7 games out of which 4 wickets came bowling first.
• Ishant Sharma –  Sharma is not considered a wicket-taker in this format of the game. Against Chennai, he has just managed 6 wickets from 10 games.

Chennai Super Kings

• Faf du Plessis – Faf says he is getting better with age, and rightly so. He was the top scorer for CSK last season with 449 runs at an average of 40.81. Against Delhi, he has played 10 games and scored 278 runs at an average of 35.5. Playing at Wankhede he has 207 runs from his 8 games with an average of 29.6.
• NOTE: Stats against Delhi are combined stats for both Delhi Daredevils + Delhi Capitals 
• Sam Curran –  Sammy was CSK’s find last season. With his all-around ability, he scored 186 runs with 13 wickets. He will bowl crucial overs again and will have the job to get some quick-fire runs as well. So, another good season is well on cards for him. Against Delhi, he has 6 wickets which include a hat-trick he got against them while playing for Kings XI. 
• Ravindra Jadeja – Rockstar Jadeja is back! Without a doubt, Jadeja is the backbone of every team he is part of. He was striking at 171 in the last season and scored 232 runs along with 6 wickets.
• Against Delhi, he has made 345 runs from 19 innings and also picked 15 wickets. We noticed that his record has significantly improved against them after Delhi based franchise changed his name from Daredevils to Capitals.
• Ruturaj Gaikwad – Gaikwad scored 3 half-centuries in the last 3 matches of IPL 2020. Against Delhi, he has just batted once and scored 5 runs. Gaikwad comes from Maharashtra, so naturally, he would be knowing conditions at Wankhede, and Chennai hopes would be on him to give them a good start. 
• Moeen Ali –  The Off-spin of Ali will be a good matchup for Capitals left-handers. Against Delhi, he has made 44 runs from 3 innings and also picked 3 wickets. 
• Suresh Raina – IPL legend Raina would be back in the scheme of things after missing the previous edition for personal reasons. Raina has not played much competitive cricket so it will be interesting to see how he starts. Against Delhi, he has played 25 matches and scored 607 runs at an average of 30. His Average goes up to 40.4 while batting second against them. 
• Ambati Rayadu – Rayadu was CSK’s 2nd highest run-getter last season with 359 runs from 12 games at an average of 39.88.
• Like Raina, Rayadu is short of game time as well but he has played a lot at Wankhede while playing for Mumbai Indians early on in his carrier. Against Delhi, he has played 20 matches and accumulated 522 runs. He averages 46  while batting second against Delhi.
• Shardul Thakur– Lord Shardul Thakur will be a different bowler after his recent success at the International level. Last year he picked up 10 wickets. He has not done much against Delhi in past and has only picked 3 wickets in 6 innings but he knows the conditions quite well at Wankhede as he comes from Maharasthra. He has 5 wickets at this venue so far.
• Deepak Chahar– Chahar picked up 12 wickets last year. Against Delhi, he has 8 wickets from 8 games. 
• Krishnapa Gowtham –  In limited opportunities with the bat against Capitals, he has made 46 runs and has gone wicketless in the 2 innings he has bowled.

Stats and Facts

• Overall Played 23 | CSK Won 15 | DC Won 8.
• CSK dominates DC while batting first. 
• CSK lost both their games to DC last year.
• Average 1st batting score 172.

Predicted Playing XI

Delhi Capitals: 1. Prithvi Shaw, 2. Shikhar Dhawan, 3. Steve Smith, 4. Rishabh Pant (c & wk), 5. Marcus Stoinis, 6. Chris Woakes, 7. Tom Curran, 8. Ravichandran Ashwin, 9. Ishant Sharma, 10. Umesh Yadav, 11. Amit Mishra.

Chennai Super Kings: 1. Faf du Plessis, 2. Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3. Suresh Raina, 4. Ambati Rayudu, 5. Moeen Ali, 6. MS Dhoni (c & wk), 7. Ravindra Jadeja, 8. Sam Curran, 9. Shardul Thakur, 10. Deepak Chahar, 11. Imran Tahir

Wankhede Mumbai Pitch Report and Weather

Wankhede Pitch is considered belter of a wicket and it is also one of the best batting surfaces offered in India. The average first innings score of 172 and team batting second has dominated at Wankhede in the past.

A warm day and evening is forecast for Mumbai.

Dream11 Prediction

Option 1:

Option 2:

Match Prediction

Chennai Super Kings have had the wood over Delhi Capitals in past and the Delhi Capitals bowling is looking relatively weak for the opening game.

We Predict CSK to win. Although the team that bats second will have a good advantage.

Written by Shekhar Singh. Follow Shekhar on Twitter today.